"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." ~Thomas Edison
Endurance athletes and distance runners talk about 'hitting the wall'. If you were a well trained athlete running a marathon, typically you would 'hit the wall' shortly after you crossed the twenty-first mile marker. Marathon runners will load up on carbs on the days preceding their race, and the carbohydrates that a person eats are converted by the liver and muscles into glycogen for storage. Glycogen burns quickly to provide quick energy. Runners can store enough glycogen in their bodies for about 21 miles of running. Many runners report that running becomes noticeably more difficult at that point. When glycogen runs low, the body must then burn stored fat for energy, which doesn't burn as easily. When this happens, the runner will become exhausted, and it will become a daunting task to complete the last twenty percent of the race.
We have all heard of the eighty/twenty rule as it applies to sales. The eighty/twenty rule states that twenty percent of the people make eighty percent of the money. Why is that? I believe that it is because the last twenty percent of the work that we do that is the hardest, but also the most rewarding. When you are exercising it is the last few reps that give you the most muscle gain and it is the last few minutes of cardio when it seems that you can't go on that shred the fat off you at a rapid rate. But most people will never achieve an elite level of fitness even if they work out often, because once things get difficult they cave in to their desire to give up.
In sales the results of our efforts is no different. As human beings we don't like to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone, but that is what separates the champions from the masses. That is what will have you eating from the table of winners instead of begging for the crumbs that the 20% leave behind.
What we need to remember, is that what we are already probably doing eighty percent of the work right about eighty percent of the time. It's not like we need to create some type of superhuman effort to push past "the wall", we are almost there already. We just can't give up, you have to push yourself just a little bit harder, believe in yourself and your product just a little bit more, work just a little bit longer, practice a little bit longer, ask for the deal one more time, and if it feels like a struggle then maybe you are "hitting the wall". If you are "hitting the wall" it means you've almost made it, you're almost there, so don't give up just yet!
